Category: technical

Thursday Thoughts 2.0

Jason8 Comments

Recently I made a post on the blog sharing my seven favorite blogger resources from 2007.  I titled the post “The Best 7 of ’07”, and published on Monday (or thereabouts.)  After making the post, I’ve seen quite a few trackbacks to it from the sites I referred to.  I’d like to first say thanks to all those that took the time to both notice, and reply in kind.  In following the trackbacks, I’ve also found a few new resources and fellow blogger and photography-related websites that have some appeal.  I also noticed amidst all this fun surfing a few surfacing eddies that have prompted my mind to wander.  It’s these wandering musings that I am sharing today.

Chief among my musings is the association with Canon.  In order to quell any intial thoughts to the contrary – the idea behind the web address (and blog) was to share my thoughts and ideas as a photographer – who happens to use Canon gear.  I do enjoy the Canon brand.  However, I am not blind to the fact that there are other gear options out there that provide alternative choices for photographers of all ilks.  In fact, while my body and direct acoutrements are Canon-branded, outside of a shutter release, the body, and 2 or three lenses, nothing else in my gear bag has the Canon stamp on it (or even the bag for that matter.)  It also bears mentioning that I am not getting paid to endorse any one particular brand or another on this blog – I simply share my thoughts on photography, tips, tricks, tutorials, and other tangential subject matter.  I have no affiliation with Canon and they have none with me.  As the blog continues to develop and mature, the look and feel may change a little bit, my gear choices may change, but I suspect the Canon line will continue to be my choice, simply because it’s what I’ve learned on and am most comfortable with.  Additionally, as we all know, when making an initial camera purchase, you are not just buying the camera, you are also buying into a camera-system.  To this end, I suspect that I will always maintain some times to Canon gear (simply because much of my admittedly limited equipment now centers around that system).  While I can obviously never be completely neutral since I am somewhat biased toward Canon gear, the gear selections of others is a matter of personal choice, and I hold no negative associations with anyone for using Nikon, Sony, Olympus or any other brand.

In order to demonstrate my complete lack of allegiance to any brand beyond the basic ones (for example, I couldn’t easily use a Nikon flash on a Canon camera), I thought it might be useful to share my entire gear lineup with the blogging community, and my thoughts on each component.  So, I will be putting together a web page “My Gear”, and linking that to the Tutorials/Resources area.  Once up, people are welcome to peruse my array of gear and equipment, as well as read my thoughts on each component.  For the time being though, here is a short list of what I own:

  • Canon EOS 350D (Rebel XT)
  • Canon 18-55mm f3.5 – 5.6 (kit lens)
  • Canon 70-200 f4.0 – 5.6 (zoom)
  • Sigma 70mm f2.8 Macro
  • Canon 550EX II Flash
  • Canon Wireless Remote Shutter Release
  • Bogen 3021BPro Tripod
  • Bogen 488 RC Ball Head
  • Desktop:  Dell Dimension 2400 2.4 Ghz Celeron Processor 2.0 GB RAM
  • Laptop:  Macbook Pro 15″ 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo Processor, 2.0 GB RAM

I am in the market for a wide angle lens, but as of yet have not settled on a lens that will complement both my current gear list and my photography goals.  If others have a gear list they’d like to share or suggestions/ideas on wide angle lenses for this gear setup that would be good for landscape photography, by all means, add it to the comments section.

Thursday Thoughts – Part 1

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I was catching up on the video recording today and realized that I had downloaded the last two Photoshop User TV shows from the end of December and this week but had not listened to either. So, I remedied the situation and watched both. Man! That last show had just tons of info in it. I couldn’t keep up they went so fast through stuff (especially at the end). Then, I thought – how can ANYONE keep up with that? I bet it’d be neat to have a condensed text version of all those shortcuts! Well, guess what, I am a little tired, but here’s a condensed version (PDF). Thanks and major shout outs to the guys at Photoshop User TV – always ahead of the curve and the rest of us (me anyway) are just watching in amazement at the prodigious amount of material y’all put out. For those of us with less time though, here’s a lite version. if you’re handy with PS – it helps. if you still are learning the ropes, better watch the video over at Photoshop User TV .

Shiny Web 2.0 Text Effects Tutorial

Jason1 Comment

As promised, the Tuesday tutorial is up today for viewing. The web version will be linked first, with the iPod/iTunes version for download listed second. A brief note on this – I’ve made some adjustments to the video quality, and am trying to keep the sizing consistent, so these are set to display now at 1024×768 which is the standard resolution for a 15″ LCD monitor. If you are at 15″ or higher, you shouldn’t have any problems. I’ve also added a graphic to the web flash, and cleaned it up a little more in my production software. The effect is a little more polished, but I may tweak the html a little as time permits. The PDF version of this will also be up shortly too, as the video moves pretty fast (I cover a lot of ground in this one…)

For the Wednesday Web links, since I am talking about text effects in the tutorial, it seems only fitting to mention a few resources for fonts on the internet. Here’s a couple I know of…if anyone has their own suggestions or resources, feel free to share them in the comments section. So, here’s the font sites I’ve used and heard good things about:

www.dafonts.com – Great resource for tons of free fonts online.

www.myfonts.com -If you need a professional set of fonts with a little more polish and visual appeal, some really well done ones are available here.

www.minifonts.com – This should be self-explanatory, but this site specializes in mini fonts. Tiny ones used in avatars for example, or in favicon images for websites (note the new one used for Canon Blogger – refresh your cookies if it’s a fuzzy CB logo)

Now, on with the tutorial materials:

Web Flash Version

PDF Download

[display_podcast]

Tuesday Tutorials Temptation…Trashed

Jason2 Comments

Well, I came home from work today, set up the tutorial for recording (with my new preamp in place for truly the best audio recording thus far), and after a few dry runs, recorded everything with no interruption. When I went to review it, I realized that the “microphone” option in my recording software was not checked. I never recorded the audio! So, the hype and setup for the Tuesday tutorial has thus been a tease, as I had to trash it. (Doncha just love my alliteration? It literally rolls off my fingertips! 🙂 )

I will re-record it tomorrow (with audio) and finish production on it tomorrow, so it’ll be a day late this week. For the time being though, I got this question in an email from Dave in California:

Hey Jason,

Can you do a video demo on how to set up and use the ST-E2 with multiple
flashes and different light ratios?
That would really helpful.

-Michael

This is a great idea Michael, and I would love to do one – but alas, I do not have multiple flashes, nor the ST-E2. Additionally, my recording capabilities are limited to on-screen subject matter, as I do not have a video camera. I could tell you how it’s done according to some stuff I’ve run into on other sites, but that kind of defeats the purpose of preparing tips, tricks, and tutorials for you to read on Canon Blogger directly. So, I’d love to see if anyone else has the means to do so! That’s right – open audition night for CB – submit a video clip (in AVI or MOV format please) of the set up, and I can port that into the format. Naturally, the original recorder would retain all copyright, and I would be more than happy to help promote your work if you have a website.

The terrible truth about me and lighting is that I tend to prefer ambient light. I do have a 550 EX, and have used it on occasion, but am not very well-versed in off-shoe lighting techniques. I’ve read all about it and know it’s the way to go, but I’ve just not pulled the trigger (or should I say “tripped the shutter”? ) on doing much of that yet. A great resource for learning about this is one of my favorites too: Strobist, a site run by David Hobby that truly is the mecca for anyone with lighting questions. If you have a question, post it in the comments and believe it or not, you will likely get an accurate answer, usually within about an hour or so. His site is just hoppin’! Not meaning to leave you in the dark Michael, but lighting suggestions and recommendations are really out of my league. I did find something within the vicinity of an answer on SportsShooter, so check this out along with Strobist for more details.

Feel free to throw me audition tapes! 🙂 Thanks to Michael for the great idea, and I’ll be sending you an email shortly. In the interests of full disclosure, I would also like to help Michael out by offering a link up to his website – he’s got some really cool photography set up at Sage Photography. My one recommendation would be to add title tags to your header info. Each page comes up with a title in my browser of “Untitled Document.” Does not help with Google crawling…

In lieu of a tutorial, I would like to point out a key factor in the behind-the-scenes of the tutorial – stamp visible! This is a great utility in Photoshop that lets you create a new layer out of all existing visible layers that is fully editable. This is great if you want to have multiple versions of a base workup, you can create multiples with this function. The keyboard combo is Command + Option + Shift + E. (In Windows it’s Control + Alt + Shift + E). Quite a large keystroke set to remember, but it sure provides the ability to take things to the next level! I’ll show it to you in action tomorrow – I promise! In the meantime, Happy Shooting!

Friday Frenzy

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Rather than the Friday follies, it was something of a Friday frenzy. I realized belatedly that next week Tuesday is New years Day, and I would be spending that time with family. So, to avoid going that long without putting out a new tutorial, I decided to put together a short one on vignetting. Since we’re all enjoying some slower times at work, and more times with family over the holiday season, I figured a vignetting tutorial might be an appropriate one given all the family and portrait shots that people are likely capturing.

So, I put together some materials for posting as a PDF, and decided to do the video-versions as well. So, in a rather rushed manner, here’s the latest tutorial from Canon Blogger. Since I will likely not be posting again between now and after the first, this is probably my last post of the year. I had wanted to get 25 in before years end, but falling only one shy is okay in my book. The other piece of exciting news is that I have finally finished the addition of a tutorial section for the website – ALL the video, PDF, and article contents, nicely assembled in one page. I’ve also thrown together some contact information, started a photo gallery section, and some other neat stuff. Many links are still not verified, but I suspect will be finished before the end of the year. Feel free to check back on your own as I’ll likely not have a chance to make that announcement directly until after the 1st. Here’s the link to that page:

Tutorial and Additional Resource Center

So… without further ado, enjoy the tutorial, linked below (I am using larger sizes that are not blog friendly, but on completion of the video, you do get bounced back here…)! Also take some time to enjoy family, friends, and loved ones for the rest of the holiday season, and I’ll resume the posting and podcasting next year! 🙂 Happy New Year all…

CB #24: Artistic Vignetting

The weekly tutorial is up and available for viewing!

JasonLeave a comment

This weeks tutorial has been recorded, produced and published. Watch how to create a neat antique effect on your images. Because the tutorial shows a camera raw view, it does not fit a blog-sized flash screen, so my normal procedure for embedding the flash player in the blog will not work.  For an online streaming version, click the Flash link at the bottom of this post.  The Quicktime version is available as always for iPod or other media player via download. Enjoy the vid, and feel free to share your comments here on the blog or with me directly via email. My address, as always, is jason <AT> canonblogger <DOT> com. Thanks and enjoy the tutorial!

Flash Tutorial – Applying an Antique Effect to your Imagery

Suddenly silent…

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Hello to the possibly dozens of viewers of Canon Blogger. I must first apologize for the suddenly silent turn the blog took these past four or five days – after Saturday’s shoot, I had a few days of rather nasty flue-like symptoms. Hopefully no one was waiting on baited breath to hear the next words I utter online or in video podcasts. Anyway, I think I am in the clear now though, so have ventured out of my cave and back to the microphone. Yup, my Tuesday tutorial got pushed back to Wednesdays. I know…it’s not like I’ve been too consistent in publications thus far, but that is something I would like to change. Ideally, I would have a scheduled theme to each of my weekly posts. One that has been buzzing my head as been along these lines:

Monday – Minutiae – trivia relating to photography

Tuesday – Tutorial – video podcast released showing the latest tip/trick in Photoshop

Wednesday

Thursday – Thoughts – My chance to wax philosophic on whatever photography discussions have been on the hot plate for the past week. I bet y’all are standing in line to hear that one, eh? 🙂

Friday – Follies – Fun silly stuff to wrap up the week…perhaps a joke or two, maybe a reference to a particularly funny comic (What the Duck comes to mind, as does Dilbert).

Anyway…just a new format/schedule I am toying with. If anyone has ideas, suggestions, or thoughts on tweaking that based on what you would like to hear/read/listen to, feel free to email me. My address (as always) is jason <AT> canonblogger <DOT> com.

But, enough of all this logistical stuff, what you want is tutorials, right? Alrighty then – here’s this weeks installment:

Rounded Corners (a.k.a. Web 2.0 graphics)

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Rounded corners on graphics are really the mainstay of the “Web 2.0” movement, so I figured it might be helpful to show a nice and easy way to apply a rounded corners effect to your images. It’s a little bit longer of a tutorial today, going upwards toward 5 minutes, as there’s some other news that I’ve shared in there as well. Rather than spoil the surprise, it’ll suffice to say here in this context to be on the lookout for a new link soon with just tons of content, with videos, PDF support documentation, and relevant attachments like actions and lots of other fun stuff.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s the Rounded Corners video, first in Flash, then in Quicktime format! 🙂

Notes in Pictures

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Good morning all – fast breaking news as I have an extra tutorial this week. I was working on my portion of a collaborative project last night and saw a note pasted into the picture for me as a reminder of some rather important settings for the layer masks. It reminded me of the usefulness of making notes and saving those with the pictures! You can make text notes or audio notes with this feature, so check it out at your leisure. I’ll link to the dedicated page for now, and upload a flash version when I get home later today. In the meantime, enjoy!

Notes in Pictures

Welcome to the Land of Confusion

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Well…I am torn now. After administering both this blog and two other ones (granted the first was very half heartedly), I am finding that Wordpres, while apparently becoming the de facto standard for blogging, is not without it’s problems. It seems themes are not universally cognizant of several features that I would have thought would be common to many bloggers – first and foremost, being multimedia. Sorry, but the plugin and configuration settings for getting basic videos to play right in a blog is just damn confusing for me. Now I grant that I am no web designer extraordinaire, but I know the basics of html, CSS, php, etc., and am (hopefully) developing my multimedia skills by virtue of this blog, but this is rediculous.

The other problem that I am noticing about WordPress is documentation. Or should I say the quality of documentation. Nothing is very easy beyond adding a plugin. Once it’s added, then you must activate it. Beyond that, configuration. God forbid you want to publish multimedia in different formats (flash for the blog and Quicktime for iTunes). The whole thing requires practically a full-time job. Blogging I thought was a venue for hobbyists who wish to share their thoughts and experiences on a more visible level. Sorry, but the requirements for blogging and podcasting are WAY beyond a “hobbyist” level.

And now, here’s the kicker….say you want to customize your blog!!! Either I am making it too difficult, or my expectations for customization are too high, but I rather do not care for the default headers others choose. I get that everyone has different takes on things, and that’s the whole purpose behind themes, but if you are going to design a theme and make it WordPress-friendly, I would ask three minimal things:

  1. Write your documentation well…don’t assume I know what php stands for, nor expect me to have read all the ins and outs of how to adjust CSS styles and scripting. I would wager that many who would be otherwise inclined to share their thoughts regularly via blogs and such toss the idea either after investigating or trying a few things and getting wrapped in a confusing set of circular logic.
  2. Consider that your “theme” is just that…a theme, which means it should be customizable, and done so easily. If you want people to use your theme, then let us change the background color easily. Let us change the header image easily…and most importantly: tell us how!
  3. Finally, in recognition of your web skills at creating themes, help those less fortunate by ensuring your theme is widget friendly, multimedia friendly, and validates. Also, if you want people to sing your praises, and continue to use your theme beyond a few months, when releasing updates and fixes, see if you can’t deliver them in a way that doesn’t re-set everything back to default values. It’s a roya pain to re-load every customization (especially when you’re not a designer by trade that instantly knows the header image is stored in the wp-content/header.php file, and that the sidebar widgets you’ve configured need to be re-installed and activated (and sometimes reconfigured afterwards). Seriously…how the hell am I supposed to remember all that crap – if I knew all that I’d design my own theme!

I would actually pay good money for a blog that did that. Any takers?